What makes a Green Party presidential candidate deliberately throw the U.S. presidential election to a republican? Is it hubris, ego, a misguided strategy to lure in democrats, or just the thrill of a game and getting their “15 minutes” in our inane celebrity culture? It could be all of these things, but in Jill Stein’s case, an all too familiar figure was cheering from Jill’s political sidelines: Vladimir Putin.

Donald Trump, who basks in the glow of his a Putin “bromance,” wasn’t the first or only U.S. presidential candidate to be courted by the Russians. Putin also put the moves on Dr. Stein, quite literally wining and dining her.

December 2015 – Jill Stein goes to Moscow

In December 2015 at a Moscow hotel, a star-studded gala dinner headed by President Vladimir Putin himself was held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the TV network (and Kremlin mouthpiece)”Russian Television,” known as RT.

Next to Putin at the A-list table in the seat of honor was an American: Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. (As we now know, Flynn, who at the time was already a key figure in Trump’s presidential campaign, was paid $45,000 to speak at the gala.)

There were 10 people at Putin’s table, representing the Kremlin’s top leadership. Oh, and there was one more American besides Flynn at the ultra-VIP table. Another American had been invited as Putin’s special guest.

The one other American VIP was none other than Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein.

The Stein campaign has refused to answer questions as to who paid for the lavish Russian trip. In January 2017, The Daily Beastreported: “It remains unclear who paid for Stein’s trip to Moscow and her accommodations there.”

While in Russia, Stein also participated on a RT-organized panel discussion on foreign policy, in which she strongly critical of the Obama administration, and decried the U.S.’s “disastrous militarism.”

Stein touted her trip to Russia and meeting with Vladimir Putin on her campaign web site, Jill2016.com, taking care to name-check Mr. Putin.

More Russia-related self-promotion from Dr. Stein shown in screenshot below from the Jill2016.com site:

The festive atmosphee of Dr. Stein’s Russo-schmoozing at the December 2015 RT gala stood in stark contrast with the political reality, namely the deterioration of Western-Kremlin relations stemming from the crisis in the Ukraine. Only a few months before the RT gala, ominous warnings had been sounded about imminent Russia-NATO military conflicts.

Yet Dr. Stein was unabashed in her praise for Russia, speaking in a YouTube video on location in Moscow. With the Kremlin looming in the background, she spoke of “a need to reign in U.S. exceptualism” and to “revise our foreign policy so that it’s based on international law.” She also calls for a replacement of the “U.S. policy of domination.”

Russian state television actively supports Stein’s candidacy

In 2016, RT hosted the Green Party debates. (The Green Party in debate was broadcast not by CNN, FOX, ABC, PBS, or even CSPAN — but by Russian national television. One would think that Russian state sponsorship of an event occurring with U.S. election processes would be noteworthy, and at least in a small way, shocking.)

Stein lavished praise on Russia and RT. “RT is breaking the two-party stranglehold on debates and beginning the open discussion the American people are clamoring for,” she said.

When RT covered the Trump-Clinton debates, RT opted to provide “live updates” of Stein’s reactions to the debates in real time.

RT propaganda sent out via news feed is picked up by U.S. media sources, both far left and far right (pro-Russian white nationist) publications. The Daily Beast called out The Nation on this point, calling
that publication’s coverage of Russia “a national embarrassment.”

Rantt.com notes that Stein’s support by Russia came “Despite Putin’s contempt to liberalism and human rights,” and draws this conclusion:

The only reason for a Kremlin-owned media company to host a Left-of-center third-party debate would be siphon votes from the establishment liberal; Hillary Clinton.

This same goal was pursued in RT’s decision to cover “live updates” of Stein’s reactions to the Trump-Clinton debates. By diverting attention from the mainstream liberal candidate — and giving airtime to an third-party candidate largely regarded as a nut job — Putin managed to secure her enough anti-establishment votes to deny Hillary Clinton the presidency.

Stein’s pro-Russia campaign press release

Following the Russia trip, a press release was posted on Stein’s campaign website calling for more cooperation between Washington and Moscow, particularly regarding the five-year civil war in Syria. Notably, parts of Stein’s statement seem inspired by comments voiced by the Kremlin and Russian officials about U.S. policies in the Middle East, North Africa, and elsewhere.

Two prominent Russian environmental activists, Yevgenia Chirikova and Nadezhda Kutepova, took issue with Stein’s news release, characterizing Stein’s positions on President Vladimir as “deeply shocking.” In September 2016. Chirikova and Kutepova posted an open letter to Dr. Jill Stein, pointing to Stein’s call for a “collaborative dialogue” with Moscow to prevent future wars, to fight climate change, and other issues.

“We have carefully read your program and your website and we have to admit that we are deeply shocked by the position you expressed during your visit to Moscow and your meeting with Mr. Vladimir Putin.”

“But how can this new ‘collaborative dialogue’ be possible when Mr. Putin has deliberately built a system based on corruption, injustice, falsification of elections, and violation of human rights and international law? How is it possible to have a discussion with Mr. Putin and not mention, not even once, the fate of Russian political prisoners, or the attacks against Russian journalists, artists, and environmentalists?”

“By silencing Putin’s crimes, you are silencing our struggle. By shaking his hand and failing to criticize his regime you are becoming his accomplice.”

Stein takes to Twitter to praise and defend Russia, bash U.S.

Stein continues to use Twitter to spout Kremlin talking points. In October 2016, she said Russian aggression is somehow the fault of the U.S., because apparently “Washington made them do it”:

We have forced Russia into a very defensive posture because we're conducting war games around them. #PeaceOffensive#tytlive

Dr. Stein equates U.S. national morality with that of Russia. Here she says that the U.S. and its allies are not “good guys,” in a tweet reminiscent of candidate Donald Trump’s “You think this country is so innocent?” taunt:

Russia and Assad are not the “good guys”, but neither are we as we fan the flames of war and pump weapons into the Middle East. #debate

As Putin’s puppet, Dr. Jill Stein was not as much a “Manchurian Candidate,” but a more of a lowly “Manchurian Spoiler.”

Hillary Clinton lost the crucial election-tipping states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin by a combined total of only about 80,000 votes, the capacity of an average sports stadium.

Stein’s vote totals in these same states were all greater than Clinton’s margin of defeat. Since we can assume that Stein didn’t siphon off many Trump votes, it nearly certain that Stein single-handedly cost Clinton the Electoral College victory.

Stein was a pawn well-played by Putin. Russia’s machinations with both Trump and Stein gave Putin a successful strategy resulting in “check and mate.”

As investigations into the extent of the Russian government’s interference in U.S. elections continue, some Democrats have called for Stein to appear before Congress to testify about her Moscow connections.

Adam Schiff, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told Politico:

“There have been public reports, I think, that Jill Stein was also in Russia attending the RT function, so we’re going to need to look at any efforts the Russians made through whatever means to influence our elections.”